Amazon – Part 2

Jungle Day 2

It rained through the night our first night at the lodge and into the morning. The downpours were so powerful! We were supposed to start the day with another hike, but because of the weather we went piranha fishing instead. We donned our rain gear and hopped in the boat with some rudimentary fishing poles and some raw chicken.

We hit the water and it didn’t take long before we started getting some bites. The first few attempts, my pole came back without a fish and the chicken eaten off. After some direction from the guide, I really got the hang of it and we started pulling some in! It was actually a bit nerve wracking when we caught one, their teeth are no joke. With our first catch, the guide grabbed a small twig from the tree, put it in the mouth of the piranha and showed us how the piranha chomped it into pieces. Alex found a way to get them off the line without getting chomped, I chose to let the guide unhook mine 🙂 A few times, the piranha got off the hook before it was grabbed and was hopping around in the boat! I think Alex did it on purpose to watch me jump around frantically while the piranha flopped at my feet.

We wasted no time to enjoy our catches and fried up the piranhas for lunch. The meat was very mild tasting and delicious!

After lunch, the rain subsided and we went out on another jungle walk. On this hike, we stomped through the mud, saw more beautiful plant life, and I got my first glimpse of wild monkeys! They were small and traveled in groups, so when we spotted one there were usually several more scurrying and jumping from tree to tree. It was such a highlight for me to see monkeys in the wild!

The trees were also so beautiful. The massive root systems, twisting branches, and hanging vines were all so mesmerizing. It took some restraint not to try to swing on one of the vines Tarzan style.

Before dinner, we went out on the boat again into a nearby lagoon to watch the sunset. As we were enjoying the scenery, we could here grunting in the water almost like frog noises. We were told that it was mating season for a certain species of fish and this is the sound the males made. So romantic 🙂

After dinner that evening, we went out on a night hike to get to know the jungle nightcrawlers! It was very cool to see some of the nocturnal creatures. Most notably we saw several giant tarantulas and scorpions, damn those things look menacing. We also saw some interesting looking insects and cute (but potentially venomous) frogs!

At one point the guide had us turn off our headlamps to experience the darkness and the noise of the jungle at night. Wow, that was a bit shocking to me. It was the most extreme darkness I have ever experienced, I couldn’t see my hand in from of my face. And the jungle was so loud! Birds, bugs, tree dwellers, all making their music. I instinctively grabbed onto Alex, I guess part of me is still a bit afraid of the dark. I couldn’t help but wonder what I would do if I was lost in the jungle at night…terrifying!

Jungle Day 3

At breakfast the next morning, our guide advised us to get ready for a full day of hiking. We would set out after breakfast and return before dinner and break for lunch in the jungle. After two days of that heat, I could not bear to wear long sleeves for a 6 hour hike in the jungle so I opted for short sleeves and extra bug spray. Suffice it to say, my forearms are still freckled with itchy red spots 🙂

On this hike, our guide pointed out to us several plants and their medicinal uses as well as vines that have potable water. His knowledge of the plants and wildlife was so impressive! He knew the sound of every bird, the name of every plant, what was toxic and what was not – I don’t think a single one of our questions went unanswered. At one point he pointed out two identical looking vines and told us that one is filled with drinkable water and the other was poisonous.

In the middle of the hike, we stopped in the middle of the jungle for lunch. We were expecting our guide to pull out sandwiches or something simple, but he asked us to start gathering dry wood for a fire! Dry wood in the rainforest after it rained all day the previous day and the humidity is at 100%? It seemed impossible. But sure enough, he started dragging in and hacking up wood and got a fire going surprisingly easily. He built a grill from wet sticks and pulled out some plantains and a huge fish to grill! Delicious.

After lunch, we hiked for a couple more hours until we made it back to where our boat was waiting for us. On the way back, the guide spotted his neighbors gutting a massive fish! It was our first look at an arapaima. It was definitely the biggest fish I have ever seen in person and we saw two separate catches being gutted by nearby neighbors. It was fascinating to watch.

Throughout the trip we also frequently spotted river dolphins. I didn’t even know river dolphins existed! There were small gray/blue dolphins and larger pink ones. They would come up very briefly for air, so you really had to be vigilant to get a good look. I did manage to capture a pink one surfacing on video 🙂

We took a dip before dinner and had an activity-free evening. After the day we had, we were all grateful to have an evening to relax. That and the guide informed us that he wanted to show us the sunrise, so we had to be up and on the boat by 5am the next morning!

Jungle Day 4

The 4:45am wake-up call was rough, but there was no denying that the sunrise was beautiful.

After breakfast we went on one more short hike, spotting animals and interesting trees along the way. An animal highlight on this hike was the sloth we saw! It was sleeping while hugging the tree trunk. Such strange little creatures.

That was our last activity at the lodge in the low jungle! It was time for us to go to our next destination in the high jungle, about a 3 hour boat ride from where we were. Here, we would say goodbye to our guide and our new Italian friend, Nicola. We took off in the pouring rain ready for 2 more days of adventure!